PALESTINIANS-ARAFAT/FRANCE-FILE French prosecutor recommends closing Arafat death Inquiry

Record ID: 146093

  • Title: PALESTINIANS-ARAFAT/FRANCE-FILE French prosecutor recommends closing Arafat death Inquiry
  • Date: 21st July 2015
  • Summary: GAZA CITY, GAZA (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - NOVEMBER 1, 2001) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ARAFAT GREETING BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR ON HIS ARRIVAL FOR TALKS TO GAIN SUPPORT FOR U.S.-LED ATTACKS ON AFGHANISTAN BLAIR AND ARAFAT STANDING RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - APRIL 30, 2003) (REUTERS) MAHMOUD ABBAS SWEARING OATH AS NEW PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER AND SHAKING HANDS WITH ARAFAT RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - MAY 2, 2002) (REUTERS) CROWD GATHERED OUTSIDE ARAFAT'S OFFICE AFTER ISRAELI FORCES WITHDREW ARAFAT EMERGING FROM HIS OFFICE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE ISRAELI FORCES WITHDREW, ARAFAT BLOWING KISSES TO CROWD RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - OCTOBER 7, 2003) (REUTERS) AHMED QUREI SWEARING OATH AS NEW PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER AND EMBRACING ARAFAT RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - OCTOBER 24, 2004) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARAFAT SEATED AT MEETING WITH PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - OCTOBER 28, 2004) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARAFAT WEARING PYJAMAS AND WOOLLEN HAT SEATED WITH HIS DOCTORS RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - OCTOBER 29, 2004) (REUTERS) CROWD SURROUNDING ARAFAT AS HE BOARDS HELICOPTER HELICOPTER TAKING OFF FROM ARAFAT'S COMPOUND PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS INCLUDING PRIME MINISTER AHMED QUREI WAVING
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEL2TT76BHAO7ICD6LXANOI96Q
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    A French prosecutor recommended on Tuesday (July 21) the closing of an investigation into the death in France of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whose widow alleged he was poisoned.
    Arafat, who signed the 1993 Oslo interim peace accord with Israel but led an uprising after subsequent talks broke down in 2000, died aged 75 in a French hospital in 2004.
    The official cause of death was a massive stroke, but French doctors said at the time they were unable to determine the origin of his illness. No autopsy was carried out.
    His widow, Suha Arafat, has argued the death was a political assassination by someone close to her husband. But French forensic scientists concluded in 2013 that Arafat had not been the victim of poisoning.
    "We have requested that the case be dismissed," the prosecutor's office told Reuters.
    French magistrates must now decide on whether to follow the prosecutor's advice on the probe opened in August 2012.
    Arafat died four weeks after falling ill after a meal, suffering from vomiting and stomach pains. At the demand of his widow, his remains were exhumed in 2012 and examined separately by French, Russian and Swiss experts.
    The Swiss reported their results were consistent with but not proof of poisoning by reactive polonium. The French concluded he did not die of poisoning and Russian experts were reported to have found no traces of polonium in his body.
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